NHL’s biggest surprises early in 2024-25: Emerging stars, unexpected starts and more

Just over three weeks into the 2024-25 NHL season, things are looking interesting. The Edmonton Oilers — our preseason Stanley Cup favorites — are struggling to score goals. The Calgary Flames and Minnesota Wild — two teams that missed the playoffs last year — are unexpectedly off to hot starts. And the Winnipeg Jets are not just good but undefeated.

Even our boldest predictions are being surpassed by the surprises of a season in action.

What has been each team’s biggest surprise so far, good, bad or ugly? The Athletic posed that question this week to its NHL staff. Here’s what they said.

---

Mason McTavish getting dropped in the lineup: There were a few candidates for this: Trevor Zegras with just 2 points in six games, Cutter Gauthier finally getting on the scoresheet earlier this week, Lukáš Dostál off to a hot start in goal. But one that raised some eyebrows was Ducks coach Greg Cronin dropping McTavish from his customary No. 2 center position to the fourth line Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks. It doesn’t look like any kind of permanent sentence for McTavish, as he still played nearly 17 minutes and assisted on Leo Carlsson’s decisive power-play goal. But it’s another sign that Cronin has high expectations for the 21-year-old, who has only eight shots on goal along with terrible possession and defensive metrics. As he did with Zegras last season and with Gauthier, in benching him for lengthy stretches during a game, Cronin will send a message to his talented young forwards if he isn’t getting what he wants out of them. — Eric Stephens

Cole Koepke’s offensive emergence: The Bruins signed Koepke, 26, as a depth wing on a one-year, $775,000 deal. He was not guaranteed to make the team. But as the No. 4 right wing next to Johnny Beecher and Mark Kastelic, the ex-Tampa Bay Lightning forward has three goals and 6 points in his first eight games. Koepke had scored only one previous NHL goal. He’s been a no-nonsense, straight-line forward who takes pucks to hard areas. — Fluto Shinzawa

Cole Koepke, ladies and gentlemen. pic.twitter.com/VqVqSCmEgN

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 20, 2024

Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn have zero goals: Cozens and Quinn are on Buffalo’s second line, get power-play time and are expected to have big seasons. But through eight games, they have combined for zero goals and three assists. Quinn was a healthy scratch for one game. Cozens leads the team in shots on net but hasn’t been able to finish. And Buffalo still hasn’t scored on the power play. The Sabres need these two to get going to take some pressure off the top line. — Matthew Fairburn

Calgary Flames

Their franchise-best start: There’s Jonathan Huberdeau’s point-per-game production, Martin Pospisil being a viable center option and Dustin Wolf’s perfect 3-0-0 record. And we can’t forget about Justin Kirkland. When you add that all together, you get a Flames team that has defied expectations with its best start in franchise history. Many analysts had Calgary pegged to finish as a bottom-three team in the standings. Now, people are wondering if the Flames should load up on assets for a playoff run. Will this hold? We’ll see. But Flames fans are ready to enjoy the ride as long as it lasts. — Julian McKenzie

Shayne Gostisbehere exceeding expectations: We all knew Gostisbehere could score. Coming into this season, Gostisbehere had 97 goals since becoming an NHL regular in 2015-16, the 10th most among defensemen. But “Ghost” has exceeded expectations to start this season with four goals in his first five games. He’s just the second defenseman in franchise history (Dougie Hamilton, 2019) and the first in the NHL since Filip Hronek (Detroit Red Wings, 2022) to score in four straight, and he has fit perfectly on the top power-play unit that finished second in the league last season. — Cory Lavalette

WE BELIEVE IN GHOST 👻 pic.twitter.com/BYcrTMFZp8

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 23, 2024

The added veterans haven’t been impactful: The Blackhawks added eight veterans in the offseason. Aside from Teuvo Teräväinen, they haven’t made much of a difference. Craig Smith has had moments, but he has also been a healthy scratch. Tyler Bertuzzi doesn’t have a point in five-on-five play through eight games. T.J. Brodie has struggled defensively. Ilya Mikheyev is pointless. Patrick Maroon has the second-worst on-ice expected goals percentage on the team. Alec Martinez and Laurent Brossoit are out with injuries. — Scott Powers

Ross Colton stepping into a first-line role: With Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin out of the running to play alongside Nathan MacKinnon on Colorado’s top line, coach Jared Bednar turned to Colton. All Colton has done is score seven goals, which ranks second in the NHL behind the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov (eight). Colton’s offensive outburst coincided with Colorado’s turnaround, as he scored twice in each of the team’s first two wins (including the game-winner Sunday in San Jose). He’s been a pleasant and much-needed surprise early on. — Jesse Granger

Can ANYONE stop Ross Colton right now? 🔥 pic.twitter.com/358GyhZlNu

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 25, 2024

Mathieu Olivier … goal scorer? The Blue Jackets’ leading goal scorers so far this season are Kirill Marchenko, Sean Monahan, Yegor Chinakhov and … Olivier? Yes, the career fourth-liner (no slight intended) has three goals, one assist, 4 points and a plus-1 rating in the first six games, including his first career two-goal game Tuesday versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. Olivier, who scored a club-high four preseason goals, said he spent the offseason working on the skills aspect of his game, including an equipment tweak, which he didn’t want to discuss. Hey, why jinx it? — Aaron Portzline

Columbus goal!

Scored by Mathieu Olivier with 08:24 remaining in the 2nd period.

Assisted by Zachary Aston-Reese and Justin Danforth.

Columbus: 5
Toronto: 0#TORvsCBJ #CBJ #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/6CMDxCZPM5

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) October 23, 2024

The lack of production from the back end: If we’re picking nits from an excellent start, it’s how little the Stars defensemen are contributing offensively. Dallas has just one goal from the back end, a Thomas Harley tally in its seventh game, a loss to Buffalo. But it’s not just goals. Miro Heiskanen’s secondary assist on Jason Robertson’s goal Thursday night in Boston was the first point recorded by a Dallas defenseman other than Harley. So through eight games, nearly 10 percent of the season, five defensemen — including a potential Norris Trophy contender — have combined for no goals and one secondary assist. On the bright side, the Stars are still 6-2-0. If and when Heiskanen starts chipping in more, they’ll be that much more dangerous. — Mark Lazerus

Detroit Red Wings

Simon Edvinsson’s quick adjustment: Edvinsson carries big expectations long-term as a No. 6 pick, but it’s been impressive how quickly he’s become a core piece of the Red Wings blue line, playing major minutes and against top lines early on this season. He quickly rose to the team’s top defense pairing and has held up well there — particularly in protecting a tight, 1-0 lead against the New York Islanders, showing his great defensive stick to deny entries and break up plays. Edvinsson has played in just over 30 NHL games in his young career, and he’ll surely have some ups and downs as the season plays out, especially if he remains in such a tough role. But it has to be encouraging for the Red Wings to see him succeeding in that spot this early. — Max Bultman

Edmonton Oilers

They can’t score: The Oilers have been an offensive juggernaut since becoming a perennial playoff team in 2020. Including a four-goal performance Friday against Pittsburgh, they’ve scored just 18 times through their eight games. That’s 2.25 per contest, a rate that ranks ahead of just San Jose. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins finally netted his first marker of the season Friday, but offseason signee Viktor Arvidsson has yet to find the net. Neither has Zach Hyman, the winger who racked up 54 goals in the 2023-24 regular season and added 16 more in the playoffs. The power play, led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, has gone from being the hallmark of the team for the past six seasons to coach Kris Knoblauch toying with the idea of personnel changes. It’s all so perplexing. — Daniel Nugent-Bowman

A slow start for Carter Verhaeghe: Missing Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk for most of the early going — though Tkachuk has since returned — wasn’t in the Panthers’ plans. The champs have managed to tread water, though. No harm, no foul. Maybe we’re a bit surprised that Verhaeghe didn’t carry the team a bit more in the meantime; he has one goal and 5 points (just 3 at even strength) in his first nine games. That feels like nitpicking, though. Expect him to find his game. — Sean Gentille

The Kings’ Jekyll-and-Hyde nature: Their 4-2-2 record is fine, and they’re surprisingly sandwiched between Calgary and the usual Pacific Division contender Vegas Golden Knights. And it’s early, with only one-tenth of the schedule having been played. But the surprising element of the Kings is how they’ve been either their usual stingy selves or lit up by a bunch of goals. Toronto and Vegas put six on them in their regulation defeats, and the Ottawa Senators scored eight in their wild overtime shootout. Otherwise, the Kings have given up two or fewer in their other five contests. Not having Drew Doughty in their defense can be a contributing factor. David Rittich has held down the fort in goal, but Darcy Kuemper, who was activated Thursday, should be in a position to start Saturday against the Utah Hockey Club after missing four games. Ditching their 1-3-1 neutral-zone trap and some new personnel have led to some inconsistency, but the Kings pulled in points across a tough seven-game road slate to open the season. In the end, that’s what matters. — Eric Stephens

Minnesota Wild

Riding the Gus Bus: Wild general manager Bill Guerin should consider himself lucky he didn’t trade Filip Gustavsson last offseason — and many other GMs are probably kicking themselves that they didn’t bite. Five starts into his season, Gustavsson might be playing better than he did even two years ago when he finished second in the NHL in save percentage and goals-against average. Not only did he become the 15th goalie in NHL history and the first in Wild history to score a goal, but he has also allowed only seven goals in five starts and is 4-0-1. Gustavsson has the league’s best goals-against average (1.40) and second-best save percentage (.952). — Michael Russo

Gus Bus appreciation post 💚 pic.twitter.com/W1VBNbd50x

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 23, 2024

Lane Hutson’s ice time: Though he’s coming off a difficult game, Hutson’s transition to the NHL has been smoother than anyone could have imagined. Through seven games, he leads the Canadiens in time on ice at 23:16 per game, and that’s without seeing any time on the top power-play unit. At even strength, he is playing 20:05 per game, which is top 20 in the NHL, more than Moritz Seider gets with the Red Wings or Devon Toews gets with the Avalanche or Noah Dobson gets with the Islanders. And though there have been some defensive issues, they have not been nearly as glaring as everyone thought they would be for a 5-foot-9, 160-pound defenseman. — Arpon Basu

The overall lackluster play: The Preds finally recovered from the worst start in team history, five games and five regulation losses, with a desperately needed 4-0 win over the Bruins. So maybe that starts things in the other direction. But in the early stages, there isn’t one aspect of this team’s game that is living up to expectations. Juuse Saros always starts slow, so that’s not a giant surprise. But adding Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei to a group that did so well in Andrew Brunette’s system last season was supposed to be instant fire. — Joe Rexrode

Johnathan Kovacevic’s emergence: The Devils acquired Kovacevic for a 2026 fourth-round pick this summer, and he has fit in nicely. He was averaging 21:18 of ice time heading into Friday’s game, with a goal, 5 points and a plus-3 rating. His workload will likely go down with Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce returning, but the Devils have to be happy with what they’ve gotten from him so far. — Peter Baugh

New York Islanders

Ilya Sorokin at full strength: Sorokin’s mysterious offseason back surgery caused him to miss all but a few days of training camp, which made his regular-season debut and play a huge question mark. He has alleviated any concerns. He hasn’t just been healthy; he’s been excellent. Heading into Friday’s game, he had allowed four goals in three starts. Too bad his teammates can’t score any goals for him. — Arthur Staple

The third line’s brilliance: It’s not shocking that the Rangers’ third line of Will Cuylle, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko has been good, but the trio has been a force for Peter Laviolette. Each player has at least 5 points, and the Rangers haven’t allowed a five-on-five goal with them on the ice through seven games. Chytil missed most of last season with a suspected concussion, and having him healthy and effective has been huge. He can drive play. A third line with scoring abilities makes the Rangers much deeper, and it’s a big reason they’re off to a 5-1-1 start. — Peter Baugh

Ottawa Senators

Their power play: The Senators’ power-play conversion rate will eventually go down. But that the Sens rank as high as they do (over 40 percent as of Thursday) and had power-play goals in four consecutive games before Friday night’s game against Vegas is a promising sign. The Sens have shown they can move the puck around on the power play, and Jake Sanderson is a huge conduit of that success. Ottawa will probably need to generate more high-danger chances to remain among the league’s best, but it at least has a solid head start. — Julian McKenzie

Jett Luchanko is still on the NHL roster: Two players from the 2024 NHL Draft are on their NHL rosters at the moment: San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 pick, and Luchanko, who was selected at No. 13. Coach John Tortorella has been complimentary of Luchanko’s game from the first time he saw him in training camp, consistently praising his speed, maturity and hockey sense. Whether Luchanko goes back to juniors or remains with the Flyers for the season is anyone’s guess at the moment. — Kevin Kurz

Pittsburgh Penguins

Kevin Hayes is scoring goals: Bottom-six scoring hasn’t existed for much of a decade in Pittsburgh. Adding Hayes didn’t figure to change that, but he’s been very good. Not only has he scored three goals, but Hayes’ defensive play has also stood out on a revamped fourth line. He’s been good around the net, showing skill and touch, and has been an overall great addition. — Rob Rossi

Kevin Hayes converts on the power play to get the Penguins on the board. 🐧 pic.twitter.com/Ym6wWdLeX2

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 20, 2024

San Jose Sharks

Another sizable winless start to the season: Look, the Sharks weren’t going to win a bunch of games. But with a new head coach and a bunch of changes to the roster, they were expected to be much more competitive and get their first win sooner than last season, when they started 0-10-1. It should have been opening night, when they took a three-goal lead against the St. Louis Blues into the third period. A win there would not have conjured up that horrific beginning to 2023-24, but this is still a talent-starved group learning it must play a complete game to emerge victorious. The competitive aspect has mostly been there — for instance, the Sharks played a solid if not strong final 40 minutes in Thursday’s loss to the Kings — and this doesn’t feel like a team that will allow 331 goals or have a minus-150 goal differential. But a game at Vegas is on tap, followed by one against Utah and a rematch with Los Angeles. Winning isn’t proving to be any easier. — Eric Stephens

Brandon Montour’s presence: If you’re watching Kraken games regularly, you know Montour has been all over the ice, in the best possible way, in the early going. The marquee unrestricted free-agent signing was expected to provide a significant boost on the Kraken back end, but he has far exceeded all reasonable expectations in his first month in the Pacific Northwest. The production has been there, but the two-way impact and stylistic fit have made Montour such a good addition to the Kraken. His presence has given Seattle a dynamic, marauding play-driving presence on the back end on both of its top-four pairs, and the extent to which the Kraken have outshot and out-chanced their opponents with Montour on the ice is incredible. It’s early, but Montour looks like he has meaningfully elevated the offensive ceiling of this team. — Thomas Drance

St. Louis Blues

Ryan Suter playing on the top pair: Suter, 39, is the second-oldest player in the NHL, only a couple of months younger than Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. He will turn 40 in January and is showing no signs of slowing down. He was bought out of his contract for the second time in his career last summer, and the Blues signed him as a depth defenseman. But he has stepped in for an injured Nick Leddy and is playing in the team’s top pair with Colton Parayko. Since taking that assignment, he’s averaging more than 24 minutes of ice time per game and is a plus player. — Jeremy Rutherford

Tampa Bay Lightning

Brandon Hagel is dominating his minutes: It’s not that Hagel needs elite talent to excel. It’s just that he hasn’t missed a step despite getting bumped off the top line with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. Starting the year off the top unit hasn’t dimmed his scoring, either: his 4.13 points per 60 pace is the highest of his career. A lot of that is thanks to his outstanding five-on-five play: The Lightning are generating more quality offense in his minutes, and he has one of the best impacts on their expected goal suppression despite shouldering a tough workload against top competition. — Shayna Goldman

Toronto Maple Leafs

The play of Anthony Stolarz: Joseph Woll went down to injury the day before the start of the regular season, and it turned out not to matter for the Leafs. That’s because Stolarz came out rocking. He gave up two goals or fewer in each of his first five starts, stopping almost 94 percent of the shots he faced. The Leafs signed Stolarz to a two-year contract last summer. They hoped he would be a competent 1B to Woll. He’s been more than that, establishing a clear edge on Woll, who returned to the crease Thursday night after missing the first seven games. — Jonas Siegel

Utah Hockey Club

Connor Ingram’s struggles in goal: There have been several pleasant surprises for Utah that have contributed to its 4-3-1 start. But one troubling sign early on is that the team’s No. 1 goaltender hasn’t been able to make saves at the rate he did a year ago. Ingram had a breakout season in 2023-24, appearing in 50 games and posting the 10th-best goals saved above expected mark (minimum 30 starts) in the league. This season, he has an ugly .861 save percentage and has been outplayed by backup Karel Vejmelka — to the point there could be a goalie controversy already. Part of the issue is the Hockey Clubbers have been dealing with a pile of key injuries on the back end, but Ingram also simply hasn’t been as sharp as we’ve seen. — James Mirtle

Kevin Lankinen’s emergence: Signed toward the end of Canucks camp after a month of negotiation, Lankinen has quickly emerged as the club’s first-choice starting goaltender during Thatcher Demko’s protracted, indefinite absence. Lankinen has backstopped the Canucks to a 3-1-2 record with a ridiculous five-on-five save percentage in the .950s. His work in the blue paint has helped Vancouver pad and hold leads, which has been vital, as the Canucks have been a bit slow to retrieve their trademark lockdown defensive game from last season. — Thomas Drance

KEVIN LANKINEN 🤯 pic.twitter.com/T8HaooBOWK

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 12, 2024

Vegas Golden Knights

The offensive explosion: After losing the franchise’s all-time leading goal scorer, Jonathan Marchessault, and key forwards Chandler Stephenson and William Carrier over the summer, it looked like the Golden Knights would have to win with defense in 2024-25. Through the first few weeks, that hasn’t been the case. Heading into Friday night’s game against the Senators, Vegas is the fifth-highest-scoring team in the NHL with 4.14 goals per game and has scored fewer than three goals in a game only once. The Golden Knights have a sky-high shooting percentage of 15.4, which leads the league and would be the highest since 1991, so regression is coming, but so far the team has had no issues putting pucks in the net. — Jesse Granger

Alex Ovechkin’s defensive results: The Caps were always likely to show improvement as a five-on-five team this season versus last, but they’ve gotten more than they could’ve bargained for while Ovechkin is on the ice. After years of decline as an all-around five-on-five player, Ovechkin has sparkling goal-share numbers — over 63 percent, actual and expected — and strong defensive numbers. Opponents are producing 2.07 expected goals per 60 with him on the ice, a number he hasn’t sniffed for a full decade. — Sean Gentille

Winnipeg Jets

The defense has been just as good: No, the Jets haven’t played Stanley Cup contender after Stanley Cup contender to start the season, and the one “elite” team they did play, Edmonton, has had an awful start to its year. But I expected more growing pains from Scott Arniel’s Jets — I still do when the schedule ramps up. Instead, Neal Pionk has been much better, Dylan Samberg has been very good, and the team’s five-on-five play hasn’t suffered under a new coach. The goaltending is great, the team has stayed disciplined, and Winnipeg has given up the fewest goals in the NHL again early in 2024-25. — Murat Ates

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic. Photos: Jonathan Kozub / NHLI; Ronald Martinez, Sarah Stier / Getty Images)